Team No Luck!
by Selwynn
Summary: Not every team is a time bomb in the making. In a land where the shinobi live among the clouds, three children are chosen to be one of the newest genin cells. Unfortunately for them, their sensei happens to be an insane cutthroat with a talent for murder. Will they survive the hell he calls training, or will they die like all his previous students? Genfic. Ratings may go up.
1. Snippet 1

'For Better Or For Worse' 1.1

"…and Team 13 will be composed of Kazama Kotori, Renmaru Yukio, and Ishiyama Takeshi. Your jounin sensei will be here shortly to pick you up." With that, their chuunin instructor departed.

All three children perked up at the sound of their names but only one bothered to look around the room for their cellmates. Only three people were still left in the room; all others had left with their sensei long before. Kotori's eyes fell on to her cellmates and she proceeded to analyze them with systematic order.

Yukio sat two seats in front of her, and the first thing that anyone noticed about him was his hair. By the virtue of genetics, he was the sort of person you could pick out from a crowd and remember with his hair being a wavy, unruly mass of white that was an off-tone so pure that it was several shades lighter than anyone could achieve artificially. His mother was a single, retired kunoichi whom ran a teashop for shinobi, and she had the same hair color. However, Renmaru Shinju's defining characteristic stretched much further than her hair.

The boy was good at genjutsu – uncommonly good, even – and the fastest in the class even next to clan kids. Unfortunately, his low stamina and poor constitution prevented him from being considered talented. When compared to his battlefield monster of a mother, he was a severe disappointment – especially when the woman had retired to raise him.

Her other teammate sat three seats away from Yukio. He contrasted in literally every way to his fellow male, with a dark complexion typical of those from Kumogakure and dark hair that tinted blue in the right light. His eyes were a dark violet color, signifying his clan lineage. The Ishiyama were infamous for their peculiar life philosophy, but their ability to harden their skin into a near diamond like state made them fierce hand-to-hand combatants.

Takeshi excelled in taijutsu, and his ninjutsu was also pretty good. He was slower than both herself and Yukio, but made up with a killer stamina that made him capable of going on for hours if need be. A front-liner, through and through.

Satisfied with her examination of her cellmates, the girl moved to settle her head back down to her folded arms.

A good thing, because it was what saved her life.

There was a small flick in her peripheral vision as her head went down. Her suspicions were confirmed when the air above her whistled faintly before stopping with a _thunk_. A few thin strands of her auburn hair floated down to the table.

Already on her guard, the girl leapt from her seat, shifting into a battle-ready stance as she tracked the location of the weapon. It had embedded itself within the wooden frame of the far wall; a wickedly sharp looking kunai that gleamed darkly in the light of the classroom. Slowly, she approached it.

Behind her, she heard Takeshi mutter, "Where the hell did _that _come from?"

"It's got a note," she said absently. "I think it might be from our sensei."

Takeshi, to his credit, took it in stride. "Well, what does it say?" he demanded impatiently.

Kotori shifted forward with due caution, prepared to twist away if a secondary attack followed. "Go to room 307," the girl replied. "Maybe he's meeting us there?"

Takeshi gave a curt nod and was making to move away when Kotori halted him. "Hey, since we're a team now, why don't we make our meeting official?" Without waiting for an answer, she stuck out her hand abruptly at Yukio. "You already know my name, but nice to meet you."

The boy gazed at her hand silently before gingerly gripping it with his much paler one. "Uh, yeah."

He released her immediately and with any other person, Kotori might've felt offended. However, in this case, she would make exceptions. Yukio was an introverted boy with no friends due to his classmates bullying him for various reasons like his reliance on genjutsu, low strength, and odd appearance. He would need time to immerge from his shell.

Kotori whipped around to Takeshi and offered him her hand. He stared at her palm like it was a bomb until she prompted him, "Well?"

He sighed, like shaking hands with his teammates was a bothersome thing. His dark hand was hot and calloused, leading up to a muscled wrist and developed biceps and he had a strong, sure grip. "Good to meet you."

He quickly turned away without another word. Kotori glanced back at Yukio, whose gaze was directed downwards and her lips thinned. _Ah. Of course._

Adopting a clueless tone, she piped up. "Hey, hey, Takeshi, aren't you going to introduce yourself to Yukio?"

The boy seemed to bristle at her casual use of his name and turned on his heel. "Look, I only shook with you because you're someone with strength," he said lowly, "_Don't _expect me to offer my hand to that weakling."

Kotori narrowed her eyes and squared her shoulders. She was fairly certain that she could take on Takeshi. After all, while he might out-class her taijutsu wise, she was far more adept at ninjutsu. She could nail him before he could even raise his fist.

Her fingers twitched as she began to circle him warily. The tension in the room racketed up as the two drew closer, eyes trained on each other body movements for the cue to start.

"You're an asshole," Kotori hissed. "Don't try to act like you're cool."

Takeshi snorted, his dark hair flipping into his eyes as he tossed his head. "Really now? You're defending _him_?" he gestured at Yukio where he stood against a wall, observing them with cautious eyes. "He's useless. He'll only drag us down."

Kotori jerked forward at that, already making seals with her hand as she rushed at him. A clone of her appeared on her right and left side to throw the boy off and she was already forming the seals for a second jutsu while sliding out of striking range,

The three girls feinted as Takeshi drew forward to throw a savage hook at the left-most one. Unfortunately for him, his fist slid through the illusion. Kotori drew up her chakra and sent a blade of wind at him with deadly accuracy.

Takeshi roared as it sliced open a small line on his back, drawing blood. Then he twisted to face her with startling speed, allowing Kotori little time to move away. His hardened fist clipped her diaphragm and she spun out of her controlled maneuver to bounce against the wall breathlessly.

He was in her face before she could recover and pinned her with a heavy forearm against her throat as he raised a dark fist above her head. He moved to swing it down in a crushing hammer blow but it paused in its descent when she jabbed a kunai into his side. The Ishiyama could make their skin hard as diamonds… but Takeshi was still young and his techniques were mostly untried. Kotori was fast enough slam the kunai in and puncture his intestine before he could cave in her skull.

She stared into his eyes challengingly, daring him to strike her even as her breathe ran short. _We all know I'm faster. Can your career survive this?_

It was at that moment Yukio chose to speak up. His voice was distorted, like he was speaking to them from a cave "H-Hey, snap out of it…!"

And then the world went dark.


	2. Snippet 2

'For Better Or For Worse' 1.2

"So you are Team 13."

The voice was loud but soft, reverberating throughout the darkness like they were in a cave. It surrounded them, seemingly suffocating. Takeshi moved away from her quickly, sliding into a taijutsu stance to face the newest threat.

Kotori wheezed as she gasped against the wall. The hand clutching the kunai trembled minutely before she also settled into a stance.

"I'm disappointed with what I've seen so far. So quick to turn against one another… is that what would happen on the battlefield? You get into a petty argument and slaughter each other so the enemy doesn't have to? What bloodthirsty idiots you are."

Kotori recoiled under the words, humiliation weighing down her limbs like iron manacles. She resisted the urge to whimper her apologies as tears pricked at her eyes.

What kind of shinobi was she…? So eager to murder a comrade, and for what? Because he couldn't play _nice_? How shameful, how shameful…

Just as she was about to throw herself to the ground howling for forgiveness, she heard a quiet voice situated further away mutter, "Kai."

And just as quickly as the technique had fallen on them, it lifted.

Kotori almost lost her balance when the intense feeling of horror and shame lifted from her shoulders. She heaved in air and looked around the room. Takeshi was in a similar situation, bodily leaning against the wall as he gasped. Only Yukio remained standing, though his normally pale face looked even more bloodless.

_Of course, _she thought. _He's considered to be some sort of genjutsu genius. Of course he released us. But he shouldn't have needed to in the first place._

Her gaze swung over to find the man who'd ensnared them in the first place. What she found was an imposing sight.

Their sensei was a handsome man, albeit unusual looking. He had messy dark hair, more unruly than even Yukio's, and it fell around his face in spikes. His eyes were an intense, hornet yellow and surrounded by a ring of black. They were slanted and the cold gaze was strengthened by what appeared to be kohl rimming his eyes. So this was the face of the man who would be their teacher.

"My, what a poor lot," he started in a flat tone. "You couldn't even dispel a simple genjutsu."

"Y-Yukio did," Kotori gasped, dredging what little defiance she had in her.

"That boy," he jerked his head over to Yukio contemptuously, "had to do it ten times before he could free himself. You two were too deep in it to even hear him or his attempts to release you."

Kotori flushed in her mortification. She and Takeshi had been caught up in their quarrel so readily that they'd never stopped to think why they were fighting each other. Only Yukio kept his wits about him long enough to stop the genjutsu.

She glanced at Takeshi. The boy's face was thunderous and the tense line of his jaw highlighted his growing fury.

The man cocked his head to the side and then glided to their flank. His steps were utterly noiseless and Kotori suddenly felt like a slovenly mess next to this trained, elite killer. How on earth could she ever become someone like that? She couldn't even dispel a basic genjutsu.

"Why should I train you?"

His yellow eyes bored into the children, seeming to judge them with as much emotion as one would show evaluating a particular cut of meat. Kotori shivered as his gaze slid over her back, feeling the back of her neck prickling with small, invisible knives from the tension.

"You are weak, reckless, and arrogant. Why should Kumo place its trust in you? Who do you think you are?"

It was Takeshi who spoke up. His face was wan but he looked fiery nonetheless. "My name is Takeshi, from clan Ishiyama of the Kengona Niku. And I-I know you, _Oyasumi Hisao_."

If the man was impressed by the name drop, he certainly did nothing to show it. His stance remained predatory but he moved away from their shared blind-spots and Kotori allowed herself to relax marginally. Her eyes flicked from their sensei, to Takeshi, and to Yukio in quick order, trying to plan her next move for the current situation.

"They call you Suimin Kira, the shinobi who annihilated an entire Kiri brigade. Except," and here the boy's expression became distasteful, "You slaughtered them in their sleep. Poisoned their water supply and then slit their throats within one night. My father says you're a coward for it."

A cold smile crept up onto Hisao's face. "Ah. You're Ishiyama Tatsuo's child. The man always was a terrible gossip." He sneered as he said the last word, and Takeshi flushed angrily. Before the hot-head could attempt suicide by jounin, however, Kotori grabbed his arm in a vice-grip. In the corner of her eye, she saw Yukio slowly approach them with trepidation.

The white-haired boy slowly shook his head at them, face clearly spooked, and mouthed silent words to Kotori.

_Don't let go of him._

Hisao's cold smile seemed to widen even more and he flashed sharp incisors as he reached inside his jounin vest. There was an obvious ease in tension when all he brought out was a scroll to toss at Kotori. She caught it deftly in one economic motion and let go of Takeshi to unfurl the thing.

Before she could read the words, however, there was a smell of sharp ozone and oncoming rain. Her bright eyes darted up away from the words, her half-formed suspicions confirmed by the sight before her.

Hisao had left.

Moments passed. Although the man was gone, his presence remained in the room. Takeshi shrugged off her hand irritably before he began t punch the wall with shouts of anger.

Kotori kept an eye on him as she drifted over to Yukio, who was clutching his head in agony. "What just happened there," she murmured as she settled on the wall next to him.

He didn't reply for a few beats before quietly muttering something inaudible. Kotori leaned closer.

"… genjutsu. He put a genjutsu on Ishiyama-san. Made him angry, lowered his inhibitions. I – I had to keep dispelling them so he didn't go m - mad with rage."

_That explains his silence and Takeshi's sudden mouthing off. But what purpose was there in doing so?_

She examined the boy as he fought the migraine from his soundless duel with their sensei. Takeshi… Yukio… and their share d history as bully and victim. Of course. Testing Yukio's integrity to see if he would protect a comrade, no matter his personal issues with them?

Or perhaps the beginning of a battery of tests for all of them?

Kotori's mind whirled with the possibilities before she glanced down at the scroll in her hand. It was still unfurled, but she had yet to read its contents. Yukio was busy with his headache and Takeshi was still assaulting the wall. It left only her to examine what sensei had left.

_Team 13_

_While you may have proved your potential in your graduating test, you have yet to show your worth. A second test will be administered by your jounin sensei at his/her specified time. Fail and you will be sent back to the academy for secondary evaluation. This is your first mission as a team. Below are your instructions._

_Mission Objective: Retrieval of a scroll and drop-off at Point B (shown on map given)._

_Possible Opponent(s): Oyasumi Hisao a.k.a. Suimin Kira, ninja of Kumogakure, any sources he has deemed necessary_

_Rank: Unknown_

_Time Duration: Tomorrow from 1200 to 0000_

_Use any resources necessary to defeat your opponent and complete the mission. The village rests on your shoulders._

Shit.


	3. Chapter 3

'For Better Or For Worse' 1.3

With her team already fractured by the man's actions, could they really pull together for the upcoming challenge?

She glanced at Yukio and Takeshi again.

Shit. Shitshitshit.

Kotori's strengths relied on her intelligence, her battlefield control, and her willingness to try anything and escalate a fight until the enemy chose to back down. This wasn't a battle that she could employ her usual tactics. She pursed her lips in thought as she slowly moved to the front of the room.

"Yukio. Takeshi. Pay attention."

They ignored her. Kotori's eyes narrowed and she brushed a lock of auburn hair off her shoulder.

"Unless you want to fail and go back to the Academy, pay attention!"

That made both boys look up. Kotori assumed her most commanding pose as she spoke, voice loud enough to be heard clearly.

"We have a mission. One that will happen tomorrow. As of now, we are a team and we will _act _like a team. No more petty prejudices," she glared at Takeshi, "Or lone-wolf attempts at problem solving," her eyes bored into Yukio's.

Both Yukio and Takeshi looked mulish, but she rushed on before they could speak up. Her teammates had wildly different abilities, compared to her more generalized nature. With a good plan, that could be advantageous.

"Our mission details are given to us here," she said as she waved the scroll, "And our deadline is tomorrow. Working out the kinks can wait; right now, we need to pull together and iron out a offensive."

She trained her gaze on Takeshi. Hopefully, without sensei ramping up his aggression, he'd be more receptive to conversation. "You seemed to know a lot about sensei – share your knowledge, would you?"

Takeshi shrugged, looking much calmer than before. "Sure. Most of it's pretty general so don't expect things like favorite techniques or something."

He sucked in a breath. "Not a lot of people know much about Oyasumi. He's a loner and paranoid as fuck. He's good as silent kills, ambushes, and assassinations. If you hear him coming, that's only because he wanted you to."

Yukio piped up from her other side. "My mom doesn't really like him. Says he's a better murder weapon than a human being."

Kotori pulled a face at that. _That's rather harsh._

Takeshi shot Yukio a look that conveyed the sheer amount of contempt and dislike he harbored for the other boy. The tense moment passed quickly when Yukio diverted his green-eyed gaze over to a stray lock of hair resting on Kotori's cheek. Takeshi scoffed even as the girl narrowed her eyes in disapproval.

That could not go any longer. But for now… "You said something about your father thinking he's coward?"

"Do you know about our clan's philosophy?" Takeshi gave neither child time to answer. "It goes like this – 'Death cannot bow us'. We fight and die with honor, no hiding, no tricks, no illusions. We fight with honor – and die with honor."

_That's… _Kotori had no words. _I didn't think a ninja clan would have such a stupid way of life. How are they alive?_

…

_In fact, how _are _they alive? Their whole clan seems to be oriented for front-line battle. _Her eyes studied Takeshi's unlikely build, noting the knotted muscles on his back, arms, and thighs that rippled when he moved. _Monsters on the battlefield, definitely not for assassin work. Why is he assigned to someone like sensei, then?_

"Well, I think we understand your clan's thinking," drawled Kotori, "But explain how your bloodline actually _works_."

Takeshi shot them a look of suspicion. "You're asking me to spill clan secrets?"

Kotori frowned. "What? No, of course not. But for our plans to be effective, we need to know what you can do and what you can't. A basic overview would be fine."

The dark-skinned boy remained silent for some time until he slowly said, "… fine."

"I harden my skin by channeling our clan chakra to it. The better your control, the harder and longer you can make it. I can make mine hard enough to dent sharpened shinobi-grade steel," he boasted, looking proud despite himself.

Yukio made the appropriate sound of awe at his boast, though Kotori noticed his omission. "Just how long can you keep that up, though?" she inquired shrewdly. _He's going to be sensitive about it…_

At this, Takeshi faltered. "A-About ten minutes when I'm standing still." Then he colored deeply, "But I'm still the best user yet for my age!"

Kotori hummed. "And when you're fighting someone?"

"… Two minutes before I lose control."

Takeshi sounded somewhat wretched at the admission. Kotori, however, ignored it with practiced ease. _He can dish it out, but can't take it._

"What if you have chakra pills and frequent breaks?' she asked after a pause. "Would it lengthen the time?"

Takeshi recovered from his sulking and instead looked thoughtful. "I never really tried that, actually. Maybe, I guess. Anyway, you know my taijutsu is the best in our class and my ninjutsu's okay."

Takeshi didn't even bother mentioning genjutsu, considering he was near legendary for how miserable he was at it. Which, really, seems to fit right in with his clan thinking.

"But what about genjutsu?"

It was Yukio and he looked almost guilty about speaking when Takeshi turned a vicious glare at him. Kotori however, smoothly diverted his attention. "Yeah, he's right," she said loudly, "I mean, you'd be pretty useless if you got put down by a genjutsu."

Takeshi turned his glare on her. "The Kengona Niku blocks genjutsu."

"For two minutes," her rejoinder came without missing a beat. "The whole world doesn't work like your clan," she said mercilessly, "And you're going to have to shape up and start learning to block genjutsu like the rest of us."

His sullen gaze told her that her message wasn't subtle at all. _Yukio's going to be more useful than you if you keep this up._

Kotori ignored him to turn to Yukio. He gazed at her back calmly. "I can do most D-rank genjutsu, and a few C-ranks. I can't promise more than five consecutively, but I can layer a low-level genjutsu. I was the second fastest in the class and Shin-san only beat me because his clan has the Kaminari Sanpo. My endurance isn't much, however."

Kotori murmured her understanding and stood very, very still as she thought. Her eyes continuously moved over her teammates and the map that she'd spread while Takeshi had been talking, working out routes for them to utilize, routes that allowed them to play on their individual strengths…

She paused. Peered at the map.

"Takeshi, could you come here?"

The boy moved towards her slowly, though he was still careful to maintain a certain distance between them. He grunted in askance.

"I heard that your compound got some recent renovations the past few months, with your clan buying more land to expand, right? At least five acres worth?" Kotori inquired.

"Ten acres," he corrected. "We added clan bathhouses and wells. Why?"

Kotori didn't reply, instead turning to Yukio. Behind her, Takeshi grinded his teeth her rude dismissal.

"And your mom's teashop opened a year ago near the outskirts of the ninja districts where it meets the west side of the merchant district, right?"

Yukio looked startled, but still stammered out an affirmative, green` eyes flicking over to where Takeshi glared at the back of Kotori's head.

Kotori nodded sharply. "As I thought. I memorized Kumo's layout, and _this _map," she declared, "Is out-dated by at least two years."

"Of course we have old information," scowled Takeshi. "They're testing to see if we're actually stupid enough to trust everything we're given. Still, that doesn't matter when we don't have a _plan_."

Kotori nodded. "You're right, of course. I think I may have a plan, but I need you two to revise it and help…"


	4. Chapter 4

_'_For Better Or For Worse' 1.4

_That night…_

The three children all left the Academy at the same time, thought Kotori found that she lived the opposite way from her two teammates, who both lived in the ninja districts. With a somewhat regretful wave, the girl bounded off on her own to her parent's apartment in the civilian districts, leaving behind an awkward silence between Takeshi and Yukio.

Takeshi had managed to tolerate the other's presence, but without Kotori's determined assertiveness to pull his attention, he could not ignore Yukio.

Takeshi sneaked a glance at Yukio, who appeared not to notice. The other boy's white hair glowed under the soft village lights, but his lean form seemed to sink into the shadows. Takeshi pursed his lips.

_No matter who your teammate may be, you _must _succeed, _urged the strong voice of his father. Ishiyama Tatsuo was one of their clan's strongest fighters, and he expected the same excellence from his only son. Sometimes, in the darkest corners of his mind, when he lay alone in his room on the side of his body that hurt the least after his father pushed him into a brutal training session… Takeshi resented the immense pressure placed upon him.

The boy shook himself. He didn't like such gloomy thoughts and instead snuck another glance at Yukio, who continued to walk along obliviously.

Most ninja knew who Renmaru Shinju was. She was near infamous for her fighting ability and fiery, blunt mannerisms – but the thing that won her the most attention was her choice to retire as soon as she learned she was pregnant and open a teahouse.

Shinobi typically don't retire. Either the lifestyle drew them in too much for them to ever leave it – or they died before they ever thought of retiring. Shinju was the anomaly, because not only did she leave the ninja force successfully, but she also raised a child _without _accidently damaging him.

Takeshi knew this all, because his cousins were all terrible, _awful_ gossips. Beyond that, Shinju was considered to be a prime catch in the shinobi community and his cousins had tripped into the time where they realize that, yes, single kunoichi mothers that could gouge your eyes out with a chopstick were _hot._

Takeshi shuddered.

Still, Renmaru Shinju remained a prominent figure in the shinobi ranks, with most young kunoichi using her as a tool to measure their worth. She was dangerous, she was positively lethal in all the ways that mattered… yet her son was nothing like her.

When Takeshi had first heard that Renmaru Shinju's son would be in the same class as himself, he could barely contain the excitement. Takeshi – despite what anyone might say, himself included – wanted friends _desperately._

Of course, clan kids always get their pick of friends in the Academy, but such thoughts do not normally occur to anxious little boys at their first day of school.

Then he met Yukio.

The disappointment was crushing, to say the least. Yukio was everything his mother wasn't. He was soft-spoken, quiet, and fared badly in hand-to-hand combat. He tripped over his own feet during class runs and flushed down to his neck whenever called up to speak.

Rather than a friend, Takeshi found himself a target for all the small insecurities, upsets, and resentment he bottled up inside. Six months into the school year, Takeshi found himself shoving Yukio face-first into the dusty, rocky field behind the Academy.

The results were a sobbing boy nursing a broken nose and an enraged kunoichi mother.

The Renmaru Teashop smelled like jasmine tea and baked goods. Yukio inhaled deeply as he stepped through, waving to the sole waitress with a small smile.

"Your mother's in the back," the young woman called as she dashed to take her orders.

"Thank you, Mina-san!" replied Yukio.

He carefully maneuvered through the network of tables and booths, greeting the various regulars of his mom's teashop. Just as he reached the door that led to the backroom, Shinju stuck her head out with a large grin.

"Yukio!" she exclaimed, snatching up his hand to drag him into the back and up the stairs that led to their apartment. "Come on, you have to tell _all _about your day! Who's your sensei? I tried to ask Raikage-sama, but he wouldn't tell me!"

Her son looked a little intimidated by her cheer but Shinju simply was too happy. He was finally growing up and becoming a ninja like her!

Squee!

She swung him around when they entered their shared home, tossing him into his chair as she twirled into the kitchen to make tea. Dinner was already set out – Yukio's favorite of grilled mackerel, meat stew, rice, miso soup, and salty cucucmbers.

She whirled in moments later with a tray of hot jasmine tea. Although her movements dictated that she spill the beverages, not even a drop flew from the ceramic cups. With a quiet clatter, the tray was set down and then Shinju began to stare at her son expectantly.

He picked at the mackerel, green eyes flicking from her face to his dinner. He fiddled with chopsticks a little bit more before setting them down with a sigh. "Aren't you going to eat?" he asked.

Shinju shook her head, long white hair flowing with the motion. "I ate before you returned," she said, "so don't fret."

"Ah. Right." Yukio picked at the mackerel some more.

Shinju's fingers twitched.

"Mom, I'm going to tell you who my cellmates are, as well as my sensei," Yukio started, eyes trained on the fish before him. "Please don't worry."

She leaned in.

"Kazama Kotori, Ishiyama Takeshi-"

"What?" the woman hissed, all humor gone from her beautiful face. "Why on earth are you put together with that bully?"

"Come on," Yukio said softly, "Don't be like that. I told you, I can handle it. I can't keep being protected by you anymore."

Shinju still looked livid, but she refrained from saying more. It rankled her – but Yukio lived under her shadow for long enough. He wanted out of his mother's reputation and she wouldn't deny him his growth.

"Your sensei, then," she bit out.

At this, Yukio put his chopsticks down for the second time. His voice was a whisper as he muttered, "Oyasumi Hisao."

_Oh for… _Shinju's hands clawed as she squeezed her chair's armrest. "That man," she said. "Of all people, they give you that man."

"Mom…" Yukio started, but Shinju cut him off.

"No! You do not know the full extent of his story," she said. "He shames Kumo."

Shinju leapt from her seat to pace around the room. Yukio's eyes lifted to where her hands had rested and widened when they saw the cracked, warped wood with finger indents.

"Son," she said suddenly, drawing Yukio's attention. "Bring me my blade and I will explain."

He scurried away to her room, dinner forgotten. Snatching up an odachi in an ornate sheath, he quickly sprinted to her side with it in hand. Shinju took it from his hands and slid it out with a snick of metal.

She picked up an oiled cloth from where it lay on the table and sat down in her chair as she began the process of sharpening the blade. Yukio sat down and watched her, occasionally taking a small bite from the mackerel.

"Oyasumi Hisao is called Suimin Kira by most of the ninja forces," she started, "But the jounin know him by another name – Team Killer." She slid the cloth down the length of the odachi. "Because three genin teams were given to him – and he killed all three of them."

Yukio put his chopsticks down for the third time.

_At the same time…_

Oyasumi Hisao stood inside the Raikage's office with the grim air of someone standing at their own funeral.

The leader of Kumo swept dark eyes over his form, an unreadable expression twisting his brown face. "Oyasumi," he rumbled. "Another year, another team."

The unspoken question lingered in the air between them._ What will you do with them?_

Hisao shifted on his sandaled feet – the only sign of discomfort he would allow. Yellow eyes bore into dark ones as he replied. "I will train them well, Raikage-sama. I won't lose another team."

The Raikage closed his eyes and pursed his lips. He hated bringing this up, as he well knew of the pain that the man suffered for the last five years when he had first turned in his request for a genin team. Five years… and three genin teams lost.

Out of the nine children placed under his care, only one still survives to this day. At first, Hisao was placed under intense suspicion for such great losses but was found innocent when it turned out all of them were lost in circumstances not under his control.

The first fell to a miss-ranked mission. The D-rank Hisao's team had taken was outside the village, and the man had only thought to show them of places outside their home base. In the scant space of two hours, however, their milk-run instead fell apart into a high-risk A-rank.

In the end, Oyasumi crawled back to Kumo with three genin and five missing-nin sealed in a scroll marked with black wax – corpse storage. The report never mentioned the black lines that meandered down his face – the result of his tears mixed with his kohl.

A year after that, Hisao recovered enough to take on another team. They proved to be talented and Hisao, flush with pride, entered them in their first Chuunin Exam after six months together. Three days later, he received the news. His team had fallen to a particularly vicious Suna team with a leaning towards poisons. Out of the three genin, only one survived and she refused any contact with her former sensei.

No one knew if he was capable of taking on yet another team after that, but as all the losses weren't his fault, the administration allowed it. That year, another team was lost. One genin went insane, killed his teammates, and forced Hisao to kill him.

After that, Hisao was officially black-listed from sensei-duty. He was placed under mental scrutiny from the T&amp;I department for six months and his reputation was systematically dismantled.

Already people were questioning the decision to allow Oyasumi to become a sensei once again. Genin are not expendable, they argued, and we have lost promising talent to him thrice over and this time, his team carries a clan child, the son of a prominent kunoichi, and the daughter of the head of the Merchant's Guild. If the children were to die, the fall-out _will _be immense.

The Raikage knew this. Oyasumi knew this. Giving him such a stacked team could be a massive mistake.

Yet a kage must trust his soldiers. He must trust them to perform miracles at the drop of a hat, to live and die for their villages as commanded. Oyasumi Hisao was a powerful jounin, one that could even be S-rank if he worked hard enough. If he passed on even a fraction of his knowledge, then Kumo would be all the better for it.

The pressure on the golden-eyed man was great, far greater than it had ever been. This team could be his saving grace, or his damnation.

"You know what this team means, Oyasumi. You know there are risks to being a sensei, better than half the jounin in this village. These genin are children, unlearned and untried. Failure is not acceptable. Failure is not an option. Fail, and I will personally make sure you can never even stand next to a genin ever again." As he spoke, the killing intent in the room rose higher and higher, pushing Oyasumi down.

Hisao nodded sharply. He stood straight, unbending against the weight pressing on his shoulders. The chance the Raikage was allowing him was a kindness, one most would say he did not deserve. To fail was to spit upon such kindness and the village itself.

"Train those children. Break them and build them up higher than they were before. Make them proud soldiers of this village and _do not let them __**die.**_"

The last word was punctuated with a sharp rise of chakra, the blunt force of it knocking Hisao off his feet. He tumbled into the walls of the office and wheezed for breath against the charged air. "U-understood, Raikage-sama."

Immediately, the pressure in the air dropped. During all this, the Raikage never moved once, holding his gaze heavily with all the steadiness of the mountains that surrounded their village. "Dismissed, jounin."

Hisao snapped his spine straight and barked out an affirmative before stumbling out the office on shaky legs. Once out, he leaned his forehead against the cool stone of the building and breathed in the comforting scent of mountain air. Below the shrieks of children echoed throughout the village.

The faces of the three children he'd been given flashed through his mind. A bossy girl with auburn hair and amber eyes. A boy with skin as dark as the Raikage's and a needy desire for approval. And a white-haired boy, lonely and painfully shy.

_Failure is not an option._

Hisao grimaced.

_It never _was.


	5. Chapter 5

'For Better Or For Worse' 1.5

_The next day…_

Hisao waited at the point next to the scroll, idly playing with the edges of his shirt. The scroll itself was a simple affair, with no border and a yellow ribbon with a blue wax seal keeping it furled.

It was an hour past dawn when he saw the initial rustles of what might be his team. The leaves shifted unnaturally, the rasp of it loud against the silent morning air. He smirked lightly.

Team 13 was good for genin fresh out of the Academy, but definitely not good enough to fool the average chuunin, let alone a fully-fledged jounin.

The attack came as expected, with the clan brat and girl leading in a prong formation while Shinju's boy providing genjutsu as support at the back. The girl and the clan brat came charging in tandem, with the girl's hands weaving into seals even as she ran.

The genjutsu itself was fairly weak, easy to shrug off but also easy to maintain. Hisao shook off the illusion with ease and shifted his center of balance to engage his two other students. While he could take all three kids out within the first ten seconds of their attack, that wasn't the purpose of this test.

The clan brat attacked first, launching a strong left hook at the Hisao's face. In turn, the older man raised his forearms to block.

_He has a strong arm, _he noted. Granted, sure, for a member of the Ishiyama but still a point in his favor. The two traded blow for some while when Takeshi suddenly twisted in a strange way that had his sensei stumbling in a leg-lock. Of course, Yukio immediately seized the opportunity to place a dizziness genjutsu on Hisao.

Hisao himself strained against a dark-clothed leg, arms twitching to-

"Fuuton: Daitoppa!"

The blast of wind careened over where Hisao had been standing, ripping a hole into the hard terrain. He couldn't see where it was coming from, but it was probably the girl of the team. It was also pretty powerful for a girl he _knew _was just an academy graduate from a civilian family. Raikage-sama hadn't been exaggerating when he said Team 13 was stacked.

Another wind jutsu, though weaker, shot at him to be followed by more. With Takeshi diving in occasionally to land a lucky hit, Hisao realized his would-be students were giving him a semi-decent workout from all the dodging and blocking.

Meanwhile, Kotori quietly snuck in from the far right to the scroll. Yukio had actually given her the idea with his ability of layering genjutsu on top of each other. This meant that whenever he cast an obvious one made for unbalancing his opponents, he was also adding a wafer-thin layer to a pre-existing genjutsu Yukio liked to call Bimyogen: Wasurenagasu.

It was barely there, so unnoticeable it hardly affected the victim. All it did was 'push' a person's attention to something more dynamic, urging to ignore their surroundings in exchange for paying attention to one thing. In this case, Takeshi herding their sensei into once direction so the storage seals they'd planted all over could shoot a wind jutsu when triggered, making it look like Kotori was also involved in the fight.

Takeshi hadn't liked it but even he admitted that a straight-out fistfight with sensei would have him stomping their collective asses into the ground.

There were a few traps set up around the area, but she disabled them with minimal difficulty. Now the scroll lay in front of her, innocuously perched on a high rock. She was sure there was some terrible trap on it, but couldn't find anything tells to its location.

Gritting her teeth, Kotori snatched up the scroll swiftly, praying that she could somehow avoid the trap and start running.

Sadly, a swatch of barbed ninja wire streaming straight at her face proved her wrong. Raising her arms in defense, the girl muffled a scream as the twisted metal cut into her flesh. Blood welled up, but thankfully nothing major. Moving only the barest amount, Kotori threw the scroll away at the point where Yukio would in the plan.

Beside her, Hisao appeared. He wasn't even panting, the only sign of any exertion being his rumpled clothing. He snipped the wire off with a kunai and slammed his female student into the ground. A rabbit-punch at the back of her head had her out for the count.

He left the girl where she fell, distracted by what sounded to be two boys arguing.

"Look, she gave _me _the scroll so I get to take it to the point!"

"Hell no, loser! The only thing you're good for are those tacky illusions, you'll lose it before you go even ten meters!"

The voices got louder and angrier as Hisao stealthily slithered his way to a roof-top further away from the training ground. Sneering, he realized that the boys moved the west of the point, clearly forgetting the purpose of the test in their bid for glory.

…Or not.

Hisao found a smile tugging at his lips when he saw the ruse. The recording was perched on a wooden stool with a microphone beside it to allow extra quality, loudly playing its contents.

The fake argument from the two boys continued.

"… well, you're a weak idiot!"

"At least I'm not some muscle-bound thug like you, you arrogant clan boy!"

Though, how the quiet Renmaru boy managed that loud, irritating blare was anyone's guess.

Further away, Takeshi and Yukio ran together at a steady pace. They made good time, nearly two-thirds of the way to the point. The first part of their run had been a mad dash for safety, half-convinced that their sensei wouldn't be fooled and would set their asses on fire at any moment.

Thankfully, it wasn't so.

They slowed to a more comfortable gait, with Yukio setting the actual speed. He was the fastest of the pair, and would need his strength for any last minute sprints. Both boys ignored each other, minds mulling over this part of the plan Kotori had out-lined in painful detail to them the night before.

By now, sensei had probably discovered the ruse with the recording and was tracking them down.

_"Think about what we found about sensei. He's sensible, sly, and willing to do anything for his goals. If he intercepts you, it probably won't be some big, flashy jutsu to introduce himself. His very character is against it."_

_"Then what _will _he do?_

_"Maybe a genjutsu or some weapons. He might even just confront you up-front."_

_"What if he doesn't do any of that? What then?"_

_"Look, the plan is simple, with different routes for different variables. The way sensei intercepts you is one of those variables. Whatever he does, there _will _be a step for it."_

It seemed that Hisao would confront them directly. A cloud of smoke heralded his intrusion, and he appeared like a dark blot on the horizon. Takeshi and Yukio tensed, ready to run away at a moment's notice.

"Cute trick with the recorder," Hisao called. "Gave you a few seconds to get further away. Though, you if were more talented, you might've gotten to the point before I'd even sniffed out your trick."

Takeshi barely resisted the urge to yell at Hisao in his own defense, choosing valiantly to remain silent. Yukio followed suit.

Instead, the two used the time to discreetly take in their surroundings. Could they be in range for a suicide run from Yukio…?

The small smattering of stalls across the courtyard they were in confirmed it. If Takeshi gave time for Yukio to run, then they white-haired boy might possibly have enough time to reach the point. He nudged him sneakily as possible, eyes trained on the static form of their sensei two hundred meters away. _You better not fail, loser._

He received an imperceptible nod in return. _Understood._

Hisao took a single step forward and their plan burst into motion. Tossing the scroll to Yukio's waiting hands, Takeshi surged forward. He threw shuriken and kunai indiscriminately, trying to box in Hisao and limit his capability to chase Yukio. Right now, they weren't bully and victim, or even two different people with differing views of life. The mission demanded teamwork and for that they'd be comrades.

Yukio ran like a jackrabbit, thin legs pumping desperately as he rapidly left the two behind in the dust. His hair was plastered against his forehead with sweat, and he prayed that he wouldn't waste this precious chance.

He barely got a thousand meters away before he heard strangled scream. It was unlike anything he heard before, a thin keening sound made of animalistic pain. It continued on for a long time before petering out, but it still echoed in Yukio's ears as he sprinted.

_What did sensei do?!_

His mind raced back and forth. Had sensei injured Ishiyama-san somehow? Had he… had he _killed _him?

_No, no way that's going to happen, _Yukio thought firmly, _sensei's a shinobi of Kumo and they wouldn't let him get away with the death of a genin, especially a clan one._

He pushed away the things his mom had told him about their sensei.

Yukio continued his sprint. His legs were burning, and throat felt raw from his harsh panting. He wanted to vomit and simply collapse but…

But he couldn't stop. Not yet. Not when Ishiyama-san had to sound like that to give him the window of escape. He may be a bully and a narrow-minded asshole through and through… but Yukio was not cruel.

He pressed on.

Hisao stopped Yukio a kilometer away from Point B. The boy's knees shook from exertion as he panted severely, chest heaving at the effort. Sweat poured down like a curtain, matting his hair to thin oily strands. Even his hands shook from where they rested at his half-bent knees.

"You've come quite far, for a rookie genin team. Though you did have to sacrifice both members of your team to their fates _and _didn't actually complete your objective."

Yukio stared at the dusty ground of the streets, sweat beading down the bridge of his slender nose. He swallowed once, twice before speaking. "Perhaps," he started, "You are right. We didn't complete our objective. My team has been eliminated. Something like this in the field may prove disasterous for all of Kumo. But… the thing is, sensei, even the most paranoid people can underestimate those they believe weaker!"

He yelled the last word and charged Hisao, arms raised for a last suicide attack.

Almost immediately Hisao knocked him down, jabbing his temple with a sharp elbow. The white-haired boy stumbled and fell unconscious with a soft grunt. Hisao chuckled. "Not bad, for a dumb genin. Nice touch with that recor-"

Hisao stopped suddenly, hand gripping a scroll with no border, a yellow ribbon, and a blue seal that was in reality, a puffy sticker.

He stared at it numbly, still holding Yukio's prone form. Slowly, he shook his head as a soft chuckle bubbled out of his throat.

Several hundred meters away, Kotori finally finished circling the village the long way around with a borderless scroll tied with a yellow ribbon and blue seal tucked under her arm. Point B was right there and she crowed in victory when she reached it.

The helmet she wore and the wig over it had been uncomfortable, but tricking sensei had been worth it. She hadn't been knocked out and was able to finish the last step of their plan. Yukio had switched out scrolls from the beginning, handing the real one to her while sensei was busy with the recording. Kotori then circled round the village stealthily while the man had chased the two boys, believing her to be out of the running.

It was painful and she was still bleeding from the trap. However, they did it.

Team 13 had succeeded.


End file.
